The American Bankers Association yesterday said it supported a proposal by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to rescind or amend regulations governing public welfare investments, open market collateralized loan obligations and certain federal savings association requirements. The proposal was in response to President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency deregulatory initiative.
In a letter to the agency, ABA concurred with the OCC’s proposal to align its PWI regulation with the authorizing statute and urged further revisions to reflect the full scope of statutory authority provided to national banks. The OCC’s current rule imposes a limitation not found in the statute by requiring that PWIs primarily benefit low- and moderate- income individuals or areas, the association said. Revising the regulation to align with the statute would provide banks greater flexibility to support investments in infrastructure, workforce development and community services that strengthen middle-income communities but do not fit neatly into a primary LMI benefit framework.
ABA also supported the OCC’s proposal to rescind certain nondiscrimination requirements for federal savings associations that are duplicative of prohibitions contained in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Housing Act and their implementing regulations. In addition, the association backed the OCC’s proposed rescission of the lead arranger option for its credit risk retention regulation, which would provide needed technical clean up and align OCC regulations with case law.
